Interlocking valve construction



Feb. 21, 1933. c. A. PEARSON INTERLOCKING VALVE CONSTRUCTION Filed Sept.21, l93lgwvanto'o Patented Feb. 21 1933 UNITED STATES CARL A. PEARSON,OF DENVER, COLORADO mmrocxme VALVE CONSTRUCTION Application filedSeptember 21, 1931. Serial Iio. 563,995.

Explosions are often occasioned in gas heating devices because of thefact that the gas is turned into the burner when the pilot light is notburning. This allows the in- 5 terior to become filled with a largevolume of gas which might be accidentally ignited. This inventionrelates to an interlocking valve construction for gas burning deviceswhich has for its principal object the prevision of means which willreduce the possibility of such accidents by absolutely preventing thegas from being turned into a burner when the pilot light is shut off.

Another object of the invention is to so construct an interlocking valvethat it will be impossible to turn off the pilot light until tliife maingas supply has been first turned 0 A further object of the invention isto provide an interlocking valve which can be quickly adapted to eitherright or left hand installations.

- A still further object is to so construct the valve that any liabilityof gas leakage from the valve mechanism will be eliminated.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of theinvention. which is designed for sim licity, economy, and efiiciency.These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention reference is hadto the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numeralsrefer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout thedescription.

In the drawing: I

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved 4o composite, interlocking,valve illustrating both of its valve members in the closed position.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the interlocking mechanism illustratingthe pilot valve in theopen position and the main valve in the closedposition.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation illustrating both valve members in the openposition.

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the valve in the position of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a. horizontal section taken on the line 55, Fig. 4.

The invention comprises a valve housing 10 preferably cast, or otherwiseformed, as

a single integral unit. The housing 10 contains a main passage 11extending entirely therethrough and terminating in threaded extremities12 for the reception of the'main gas supply line to the burners, whichis indicated in broken line on the drawing at 13.

The housing 10 also contains a pilot passage 14 extending entirelytherethrough and terminating in threaded extremities, one of whichreceives a screw plug 15 and the other of which receives the pipe to thepilot burner such as indicated in broken line at 16. A. main valvemember 17 controls the flow through the main passage 11 and a pilotvalve member 18 controls the flow through the pilot passage 14:.

Two by-pass passages 19 and 20 are formed in the housing 0 communicatingbetween the passages 11 and 14 at each side of the valves 17 and 18.Threaded nipples 21 and 22 are formed on the housing 10 .opposite thepassages 19 and 20, respectively. These nipples are threaded on theexterior to receive caps 23 and are threaded on the interior, asindicated at 24, to receive a the passage 11 in the direction indicatedby 6 the arrows in Fig. 5. A portion of it bypasses through the passage19 to the pilot passage 14 thence through the pilot valve member 18,exiting through the-passage 16.

Should it be desired to install the valve opposite hand, so that the gasmay enter from the opposite extremity, the plug 15 and the pipe 16 areinterchanged and the needle valve 25 is threaded through the nipple 21so as to close the passage 19. The gas will now flow through the passage20 thence through the valve 18 to the pipe 16.

Thus, it can be readily seen that the valve can be quickly converted forthe desired di- 5 rection of flow by simply interchanging the plug andthe needle valve 25. The caps 23 efiectively prevent leakage from thenipples regardless of the position of the needle valve.

Interlocking discs 26 and 27 are formed on the valve members 17 and 18,respectively, on the exterior of the housing 10. The disc 26 is providedwith an arcuate notch 28 having a radius substantially similar to 15 theradius of the disc 27, so that the latter may rotate therein. The disc27 is formed with an arcuate notch 29 of a radius substantially similarto the radius of the disc 26,

so that the latter may rotate therein. The

disc 26 is provided with stop lugs or projections 30 and 31 and the disc27 is provided with stop lugs or projections 32 and 35.

The valve member 17 with its associated disc 26 is arranged to bemanually operated from a main handle 33. The valve member 18 issimilarly arranged to be operated from a pilot handle 34.

Let us assume that both valves are closed. The discs and their handleswill be in the position illustrated in Fig. 1. It can be readily seenthat it will be impossible to move the main handle 33 in eitherdirection, since it is completely locked by means of the arcuate edge ofthe disc 27 which is in place in the notch 28. Therefore, when used upona gas burner installation it will be impossible for anyone to turn themain gas supply into the burner without previously opening the pilotvalve member 18, to the positionof Fig. 2. It can be seen that when inthe latter position the disc 27 has released the notch 28 so that themain handle 33 may be rotated in the direction of the arrow of Fig. 2."It can not be rotated in the opposite direction since the stop lug 31 isin contact, with the disc 27.

- When rotated in the direction of the arrow of Fig. 2 to the positionof Fig. 3 the 'disc 26 enters the notch 29 of the disc 27 and securelylocks the pilot valve member 18 from any movement whatsoever. The pilotvalve can not now be closed until the main valve member 17 is firstclosed to the position of Fig. 2. The lugs 30, 31, 32 and 35 act asstops to stop the rotation of the valve members 17 and 18 at the fullyopened and closed positions. v The valve members themselves may have anydesired construction. As illustrated they are similar to the usual typeof tapered plug valves employed in gas service.

To remove the necessity for interchanging the needle valve, two needlevalves may be employed, one for each of the by-pass pas- 65 sages 19 and20. In this case the hand of the valve can be changed by simply closingone needle valve and opening the other. The open needle valve can, ifdesired, be employed for setting 'the amount of flow through the pilotpassage to any desired amount.

The invention has been particularly described as applied to the controlof gas supply lines to burners. It is, of course, to be understood thatit is not necessarily limited to this use but will be found valuablewherever it is desired to interlock two valves so that they must beopened or closed in a predetermined sequence.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described andillustrated, herein, it is desired to be understood that the same may bevaried, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing fromthe spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is 1. An interlocking disc construction for the stemsof two associated valves comprising: a disc on each valve stem, saiddisc lying in a common plane and each provided with an arcuate notch forreceiving the periphery of the other disc, a portion of each disc beingeccentric so that one side of each notch will extend further from theaxis of the disc than the other side thereof so as to stop the rotationof each disc when its notch is in proper position to receive theperiphery of the other disc; and a projection on each disc positionedradially opposite to the further extending side of each notch so as tolimit the movement of the periphery of each disc in the notch of theother disc.

2. In a composite valve construction, a first plug valve; a second plugvalve, said plug valves being parallelly positioned and each having avalve passage extending diametrically therethrough; a first interlockingdisc secured to said first valve; a second interlocking disc secured tosaid second valve, said discs lying in a common plane said first dischaving an arcuate notch in its periphery of a radius substantially equalto the radius of the said second disc and with its center in alignmentwith the axis of the valve, passage in said first plug valve, saidsecond disc having an arcuate notch in its periphery of a radiussubstantially equal to the radius of the first disc and with its centerpositioned on a line at right angles to the axis of the valve passagethrough said second plug valve, so that when the two valve passagesareparallel to each other said first disc will lie in the notch other,said second disc will lie in the notch in said first disc to preventsaid first valve from being turned.

3. An interlocking disc construction for the stems of two associatedvalves compris= ing: a disk on each valve stem, said discs lying in acommon plane and each provided with an arcuate notch for receiving'theperiphery of the other disc, a portion of each disc being eccentricsothat one side of each notch will extend further from the axis of thedisc than the other side thereof. so as to stop the rotation of eachdisc when its notch is in proper position to receive the periphery ofthe other disc; and a projection on each disc positioned radiallyopposite to the further extending side of each notch so as to limit themovement of the periphery of each disc in the notch of the other/ discso as to prevent one valve from being opened until the other valve hasbeen opened and, when both valves are open, so as to prevent the firstopened valve from being closed until the last opened valve has beenlosed.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CARL A PEARSON.

